Society’s Lord

D.A. Carson has set out to critique the classic work by H. Richard Niebuhr
( Christ and Culture, originally published in 1951), offer a more
biblically grounded construal of “Christ and culture,” provide
an overview of the key issues involved in thinking through contemporary “church-state” relations,
and—for good measure—suggest why the fascination some Evangelical
thinkers have with postmodernism might be a tad misplaced. All this in the
scope of 243 pages. Quite a task.

Carson is Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity
School in Deerfield, Illinois, and has written specialized essays in New Testament
studies, a variety of commentaries, and popular level theological-biblical
exposition. He also offered his own understanding of the contemporary theological
scene in his 1996 volume, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism (Zondervan).

In Christ and Culture Revisited, he presents his own construal
of the relationship between Christ and culture, using Niebuhr’s classic
work as a means to segue into his own explication of these issues. Across six
chapters, he summarizes Niebuhr, attempts to tease out a type of biblical theology
of culture, offers a response to so-called postmodernism, presents his own
reflections on the current state of thinking related to “secularism,
democracy, freedom, and power,” summarizes key historical and biblical
issues related to “church and state,” and offers concluding thoughts
and comments.

Carson gives a fair and balanced summary of Niebuhr, criticizing him for
an inadequate grasp of both key terms: Christ and culture. Niebuhr’s “Christ” appears
to be a bit broader than the Christ of Scripture and the councils. And Niebuhr’s “culture” seems
to denote simply the “dominant” culture, and does not give enough
attention to other aspects of what the term “culture” denotes.

A Whole-Bible Approach

“Culture,” on Niebuhr’s view, generally seems to be something “out
there,” and does not recognize that Christians—whether they recognize
it or not—are always a part of culture. Carson suggests: “Niebuhr’s
five options tend to emphasize a selection of these biblical-theological turning
points [i.e., creation, fall, call of Israel, coming of Jesus Christ, the onset
and forming of an international community, and new heaven and new earth, and
resurrection existence] and downplay others.” Instead, Carson suggests, “that
stance is most likely to be deeply Christian which attempts to integrate all
the major biblically determined turning points in the history of redemption.”

There is much wisdom in Carson’s work, and perhaps its greatest strength
is its attempt to lay the groundwork for a “whole Bible” theological
approach to culture. Carson writes,

To pursue with a passion the robust and nourishing wholeness of biblical
theology as the controlling matrix for our reflection on the relations between
Christ and culture will, ironically, help us to be far more flexible than
the inflexible grids that are often made to stand in the Bible’s place.
Scripture will mandate that we think holistically and subtly, wisely and
penetratingly, under the Lordship of Christ—utterly dissatisfied with
the anesthetic of the culture.

One potential criticism of the work is that it might be more aptly titled
something like, Notes Toward the Development of a Christian Approach to
Culture. That is, Carson has given his readers various taxonomies of certain
positions, certain theological and exegetical insights, and certain summaries
of persons or schools of thought. One finishes the volume wishing for more
synthesis, and for perhaps a more full-orbed theology of “Christ and
culture.” Carson himself notes,

[N]one of the powerfully advanced theories commonly put forward to explain
the relationships between Christ and culture or to implement an improved
dynamic is very compelling as a total explanation or an unambiguous mandate.
. . . [E]ven the most intellectually robust theory of how things work, or
ought to work, falters in practice within a generation or two, because human
beings falter.

Carson has canvassed a wide array of options, and all come up short in various
ways. His exploration and summary of these various options and answers is helpful,
and lays the groundwork for further work into what has and will always tax
the Church’s greatest thinkers. •

Brad Green is Associate Professor of Christian Studies at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, and one of the co-founders of Augustine School, a Christian liberal arts school in Jackson (www.augustineschool.com). He and his wife Dianne have three children, and worship at Englewood Baptist
Church.

“Society’s Lord” first appeared in the June 2009 issue of Touchstone. If you enjoyed this article, you'll find more of the same in every issue.

Letters Welcome: One of the reasons Touchstone exists is to encourage conversation among Christians, so we welcome letters responding to articles or raising matters of interest to our readers. However, because the space is limited, please keep your letters under 400 words. All letters may be edited for space and clarity when necessary. letters@touchstonemag.com